The Chicago Tribune (3/12, Mann) reports, “Adults with mental illnesses are more likely to smoke cigarettes and less likely to quit than people without mental illnesses, said a recent report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” The report found that “thirty-six percent of the mentally ill smoke, compared with 21 percent of those without mental illnesses.” The report data were derived from responses to “the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s 2009-11 survey of 138,000 people 18 and older.”

Thomson Reuters News & Insight (3/12, Humer) reports that UnitedHealth Group Inc., the biggest health insurer in the US, has been sued by the New York State Psychiatric Association (NYSPA), which is part of the American Psychiatric Association, and some UnitedHealth policyholders. The suit alleges that UnitedHealth has not provided mental health treatments called for under the Affordable Care Act, the Federal Parity Act, ERISA, and the laws of New York State. The suit, which is seeking class action status for NYSPA members as well as other customers with health insurance, seeks to force UnitedHealth to comply with applicable laws. The lawsuit is in Re: New York State Psychiatric Assn. Inc., Michael A. Kamins, Jonathan Denbo and Brad Smith vs. UnitedHealth Group, Southern District of New York, No. 13-cv-01599.

Bloomberg News (3/12, Smythe) reports, “The company denied or limited access to psychotherapy and other mental-health treatments for patients suffering from conditions including psychosis, chronic depression, and anxiety disorders, according to the 102-page complaint, which seeks to represent all customers of the company facing similar situations.” Bloomberg News adds, “So-called parity laws of the US, New York and California prohibit insurers from imposing more restrictive limits on care for mental health than for other health-care conditions, according to the complaint.” In addition, UnitedHealth “violated the federal Affordable Care Act by failing to continue to pay for mental-health treatment until final internal appeals were resolved, according to the complaint.”

Related Links:

— “NY State Pyschiatric Assn files suit against UnitedHealth, “Caroline Humer, Thomson Reuters, March 11, 2013.

The Atlantic (3/11, Graham) reported that “implementation of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 has been hobbled by a lack of clear guidance from the government, and final rules governing the statute have yet to be published.” In addition, according to the article, “insurers are not clarifying the process they use to evaluate the medical necessity of mental health services, and how this compares to processes used in relation to medical services, said Sam Muszynski, director of the office of healthcare systems and financing for the American Psychiatric Association. ‘When providers ask for this kind of information, they just don’t get it,’ he said.”

Related Links:

— “Since 2008, Insurers Have Been Required by Law to Cover Mental Health—Why Many Still Don’t, “Judith Graham, The Atlantic, March 11, 2013.

In print and in its “Well” blog, the New York Times (3/11, D4, Bakalar) reports that “a new study finds that anger, coupled with psychotic delusions, may be the most significant factor in violence committed by people with mental illness.”

Medwire (3/12, Piper) reports, “Anger due to delusions appears to be a key factor explaining violent behavior in patients with acute psychosis,” according to the results of the 458-patient East London First Episode Psychosis Study published online March 6 in JAMA Psychiatry. “The population-attributable risk percentage of anger related to delusions was 30.8% for minor violence and 55.9% for serious violence, after taking into account gender, ethnicity, age, comorbid antisocial personality disorder, drug use, mania symptoms, and trait anger,” the study found.

Related Links:

— “Delusions, Anger and Violence, “Nicholas Bakalar, The New York Times, March 11, 2013.

The Time (2/25) “Healthland” blog reports that, according to a study published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, a greater number of sex partners may be associated with an increased risk for drug addiction. Investigators “followed virtually all of the 1037 children born between 1972 and 1973 in Dunedin, New Zealand, and asked about their sexual partners as well as alcohol and other drug use.” Female participants “who had more than two to three sex partners when they were 18 years to 20 years old were nearly 10 times more likely than those who had none or one sexual partner to develop a drug problem, primarily involving alcohol or marijuana, at age 21.” The researchers found that, “at age 32, the risk was nearly 18 times greater for women who had more than two to three partners when they were aged 26 to 31 compared to those with one or no partners during that time.” While the risk was elevated among men with higher numbers of sex partners, it was not increased to the same extent.

Related Links:

— “More Sex Partners Linked to Higher Risk of Drug Addiction, Alcoholism, “Maia Szalavitz, TIME, February 25, 2013.

On its website, ABC News (2/26, James) reports, “More than 10 million Americans have eating disorders, which have a 10 percent mortality rate, the highest of any psychiatric illness, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.” While anorexia nervosa “is rare among young children…the number of hospitalizations is on the rise. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the rate jumped 72 percent between 1999 and 2009, the last year for which there are statistics.”

Related Links:

— “Anorexia Can Strike and Kill as Early as Kindergarten, “Susan Donaldson, abc News, February 26, 2013.

The Los Angeles Times (3/9, Murphy) reported that a nationwide review of military mental healthcare released Friday shows that soldiers returning home with problems such as PTSD “face a confusing array of programs, inconsistencies in training for mental health workers and gaps in mental health records because of uncoordinated record-keeping systems.” The Army said it is “already moving to correct some of the problems.” It is “moving behavioral health specialists into combat zones to give immediate aid to soldiers” and “reducing delays in processing for those seeking help for behavioral health problems.” The Washington Post (3/9, Vogel) “Federal Eye” blog also reported.

Related Links:

— “Army must do more to address soldiers’ mental health, review says, “Kim Murphy, Los Angeles Times, March 8, 2013.

The National Journal (3/7, Resnick, Subscription Publication) reported that in 2012, the US Army recorded 325 suicides. The Pentagon has stepped forward with suicide-prevention plans, and the Army has trained officers and other personnel how to prevent suicide. Now, a clearer picture is emerging of who is committing suicide. Deployment status and post-traumatic stress disorder do not seem to be related, according to research. Instead, “what seems to be happening is that young white men are entering the military with preexisting distress, and that distress manifests over the course of their service. And the Army isn’t addressing trouble signs at critical moments.” The Journal adds, “According to a 2012 review of Army suicide ‘knowns,’ a quarter of the people who had committed suicide had reported at least one symptom on Army health assessments,” but the report found that just five percent received a referral for counseling.

Related Links:

— “325 Members of the Army Killed Themselves Last Year. Sorting Out Why Is No Easy Task., “Brian Resnick, National Journal, March 7, 2013.

Medscape (3/8, Anderson) reports, “Atrial fibrillation (AF) is significantly associated with cognitive impairment and dementia, independent of history of clinical stroke,” according to a review published in the March 5 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. “In a combined analysis of the 14 studies that investigated the association between AF and dementia or cognitive impairment, nine of which were prospective, AF was significantly associated with the risk for cognitive impairment (relative risk [RR], 1.40; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.19 – 1.64).”

Related Links:

— “Cognitive Impairment Associated With Atrial Fibrillation: A Meta-analysis, “Shadi Kalantarian, Annals of Internal Medicine, March 5, 2013.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek (3/7, Tullis) reports, “According to a study published today in PLoS One, college football players who sustain hits to the head may experience long-term brain damage even if they aren’t concussed.” Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic found that of 67 college football players who didn’t experience concussion, “the 40 players who absorbed the hardest hits had elevated levels of an antibody linked to brain damage,” and their brain scans, when analyzed in a double-blind process, had “abnormalities that were predicted by the presence of the antibody.” The study “suggests that the risks may be far more widespread than previously acknowledged.”

The Cleveland Plain Dealer (3/7, Mangels) reports, “The research also suggests – though without ironclad proof – that repeated ‘sub-concussive’ blows may trigger the body’s immune system to inadvertently attack the brain,” and if that response persists, “it may play a role in the mental decline and dementia that plague some football players years after they’ve left the game.”

HealthDay (3/7, Gordon) reports the researchers “found that blows to the head that don’t cause concussions may cause a break in the protective blood-brain barrier, allowing substances to leak from the brain into the body,” and that, as those substances “aren’t normally found in the body, the immune system sees them as foreign and attacks them.” Still, study co-author Dr. Jeffrey Bazarian, an associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, noted “that the researchers only know for sure that there’s an immune response,” not “whether it’s a damaging response or even a protective one at this point.

Related Links:

— “New Research Points to Brain Injuries in College Football, “Paul Tullis, Bloomberg Businessweek, March 6, 2013.